Question 20·Medium·Inferences
To address slow weeknight attendance, the Riverside Museum piloted a "pay-what-you-can" admission from 5–9 p.m. one Thursday each month for six months. Administrators worried that lowering admission would reduce revenue, but they proceeded. During the trial, average attendance on those evenings roughly doubled compared with typical weeknights. Gift shop sales rose, and donation boxes at the entrance covered more than half of the revenue usually generated by tickets. Exit surveys indicated that 62% of attendees were first-time visitors. Many of these respondents cited "price" and "irregular work schedules" as reasons they had not visited before. After reviewing the results, the board voted to make the program weekly.
Which inference is best supported by this information?
For SAT Reading & Writing inference questions, first underline the key facts, especially numbers and reasons people give in surveys or quotes. Then, before looking at the choices too closely, quickly summarize in your own words what those facts mean. Evaluate each answer by asking: “Is this guaranteed or very strongly supported by what I just read, or does it add new information, predictions, or exact quantities the passage doesn’t give?” Eliminate any answer that requires you to assume future behavior, unmentioned causes, or precise totals that aren’t stated; the correct choice will be a careful restatement or modest extension of what the passage already shows.
Hints
Locate the strongest evidence
Look closely at the sentences about the exit surveys and what first-time visitors said about why they hadn’t come before. That is usually where inference questions draw their answers from.
Watch for answers that go beyond the passage
Ask yourself for each option: is this directly supported by the numbers or statements in the passage, or is it adding a prediction or extra claim that was never mentioned?
Be careful with money and prediction claims
For any choice that talks about earnings or future behavior, check whether the passage actually gives enough information to calculate or predict that, or if it’s just guessing.
Paraphrase before choosing
Try to restate in your own words what the surveys showed about why people hadn’t visited. Then see which option most closely matches that idea without adding anything new.
Step-by-step Explanation
Rephrase the key facts from the passage
Pull out the most important details:
- The museum tried a “pay-what-you-can” evening once a month.
- Attendance on those evenings roughly doubled compared with typical weeknights.
- Gift shop sales rose.
- Donation boxes covered more than half of usual ticket revenue.
- 62% of attendees were first-time visitors.
- Many of those first-timers cited “price” and “irregular work schedules” as reasons they had not visited before.
- The board decided to make the program weekly.
Understand what an "inference" question wants
An inference must be something that is strongly supported by the information, but not directly stated in the exact same words. The correct answer should:
- Match the evidence in the passage.
- Not introduce new facts that the passage does not support.
- Not make predictions about the future that the passage never mentions.
Connect the survey results to possible inferences
Focus on what the exit surveys reveal:
- A majority (62%) of attendees were first-time visitors.
- Many of these first-time visitors said they hadn’t come before because of “price” and “irregular work schedules.” This tells you something about why people had not visited in the past and what had been stopping them.
Test each answer against the passage, looking for overreach
Now compare each option to the evidence:
- One option restates, in different words, what the survey results imply about what was stopping many potential visitors.
- The other options talk about total revenue, about what would have happened with hours changes alone, or about whether people will become long-term members—none of which are actually proven in the passage.
Identify the choice that is fully supported, not guessed
The only answer that is clearly backed up by the stated reasons first-time visitors gave (including price) is A) Admission cost had been a significant barrier for many would-be visitors. The other choices require extra assumptions the passage does not support.